BING SELFISH -Selfish Works 12" EP (1983+ltd sleeve)

Further artpop adventures from the post-Homosexuals / This Heat / Rock in Opposition squats – in exile....

(Please note that a limited-edition, reasonably-priced 7" version is forthcoming as Messthetics #702!)

A 1981 junket to Barcelona found Bing Selfish, Amos a/k/a Jim Whelton, Chris Gray, Rob Storey, and Milk From Cheltenham recording three tracks for a compilation LP, Domestic Sampler - UMYU, alongside the once-and-future stars of the Barcelona underground. Bing and Joe Torres (a/k/a Victor Lounge of Milk From Cheltenham) stayed on, and a few months later welcomed back Rob, Chris and Rodrigo Lodwick to tape an Amos & Sara LP. The only recordings to come of this adventure, however, were the five Bing Selfish-led tracks on 'Selfish Works'. The 12" features those in boldface above, plus Rita Chuli (who married Lepke Buchwalter and had a cassette on her own), Gabriel – who’d played sax on the MfC track for UMYU, and Enric Villalba (a/k/a Victor Nubla), one of the locals who'd helped organize UMYU. Selfish Works was pressed back in London through Rob's Noise Method label, although it's officially on Bing's own El Frenzy imprint. Hardcore Messthetics/D.I.Y. fans will appreciate that most of the songs are introduced by fragments from the traditional Spanish music tape reels over which they were recording…

As with the Hot Club Murphy 12", the original jackets were screened as needed: two basic designs were used, and both were modified as the screens degenerated. The "new" screened jacket combines both designs, adding a proper track-list and, for the first time, personnel-credits. (Cover #1 had ten small drawings on a hand-colored paste-on; version #2 had a drawing of Bing. On the back both featured an enigmatic story that loosely incorporated the song-titles, but no other info...) $33 [counts as one LP postage. Please note that Bing will have copies in the UK at bingselfish.com for roughly the same price (£20) and postage will be much less for UK and EU if you don't mind waiting!]

(P.S. Most original copies of the 12" featured additional decorations by Rob or others - please let us know if you'd like extra decorations for yours!)